1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to methods and systems for determining the impact point and damage propagation in a detection surface, and more particularly to a method and system for performing lethality assessment that utilizes a Frequency Domain Reflectometry (FDR) technique to determine the impact point and damage propagation in a detection surface.
2. Background Art
Most lethality assessment systems and methods for lethality assessment systems for determine the impact point and damage propagation in a detection surface, such as ballistic missile intercepts, typically utilize a grid based lethality detection system in which a wire grid forms a mesh over the surface of the target missile nosecone and wire breaks within that grid are detected upon impact to provide an assessment of the impact point and subsequent damage propagation.
Frequency Domain Reflectometry (FDR) is a signal processing technique that encompasses several technical applications. The basic principle of FDR is the use of FM ranging to determine the distance to a reflective object. Examples include Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave (FMCW) RADAR and distance to fault (DTF) measurements in communications cables. DTF measurements are applicable to any cable installation that is obscured or inaccessible for manual or visual inspections or that could contain invisible faults suffered due to material aging, corrosion, or exposure. Examples of common uses are aircraft wiring harnesses and remote transceiver sites such as cellular telephone towers. Time Domain Reflectometry (TDR) is another technique used to measure cable faults. FDR is differentiated from TDR by the use of a frequency sweep as the interrogation signal rather than a high frequency impulse as used in TDR systems.